NORTHERN ITALIAN CUISINE...

While most people are thinking about beginning the new year with healthy, low cal diets, I'm thinking about eating really tasty dishes. I'll do the weight loss thing after a while, but now I want to indulge in some really good foods that have nothing to do with turkeys, hams or pumpkin. Northern Italian comes to mind first. Lily...

Northern Italy differs from the rest of the Italy in a many ways. Most traditional North Italian recipes call for unsalted butter rather than olive oil, and though there are many kinds of stuffed pasta, polenta and risotto, in the winter they indulge in rich, hearty soups.

"The North has excellent cattle breeds suited to meat and milk production, and also excellent hogs; as a consequence beef, veal, and pork are the meats of choice, with lamb and other animals playing a lesser role. Cooking ranges from boiling and frying through slow braising and stewing, and in the latter cases northern cooks use much less tomato, preferring to use wine or broth as the liquid, and chopped herbs for flavor. The results can be extraordinarily elegant, and the same holds true for roasts, especially those that contain winter vegetable stuffings."

There is also an variety of fish; Comacchio is renowned for its eels and Veneto's coastal lowlands provide mussels and clams, and the lakes and waterways inland a tremendous variety of fresh water fish, in addition to ducks and other wild birds.

Three important Northern cities are Venice, Milan and Genoa.

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Here's A Real Goodie!

Northern Italian Pasta Shells...

Ingredients:
2 packages of fresh spinach
1 pounds ground round
1 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 large onions, chopped
Grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper
1 large egg
1 package jumbo pasta shells
1 cups tomato sauce

Saute the washed spinach in a little butter. In a large saute pan, cook the ground round until browned. Drain meat, reserving 1 tablespoon fat in the pan & add to the spinach. Stir in the cream cheese until blended with the meat and spinach. Saute the chopped onions in the reserved meat fat until transparent. Add to the other ingredients and stir to combine. Add grated cheese, salt, and pepper. Cool and then add the egg.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook pasta shells. Drain and cool. Stuff the shells with the meat mixture. Place in a baking dish and cover with tomato sauce.

Cover with foil and bake for approximately 1 hour.

BUNO APPETITO!!